We had 15 mm rain last night with other camps especially Pretorius Kop area even more. The Biyamiti is in full force and the weir is a brown torrent of water at the moment. The Crocodile River has also risen since yesterday and the bridge is doing some serious snorkeling at the moment. The only other road giving a problem at the moment is the bottom party of the S114 (South of the S25 towards the H3 Malelane – Skukuza tar road). There is a stream that keeps on ripping the pipes and gavel out of the road.

I was not really game viewing this morning, rather trying to check the roads before someone gets into trouble with water or wash-aways, but was lucky to see hyena and lion (3 female) as well as hippo x3 (it was early) on the S25 towards Malelane, before the Mlambane River crossing. A mating pair of simbas was still at the Gardenia hide and our three males on the 18k’s took a serious walk – 6km to the west before wandering into the bush. There was a nice family group of elephant closer to the camp and a lone young bull trying to show off. Rhino markings and prints all over – no rhino to be seen though.
Benjamin and Elias had a wet walk this morning and found an elephant herd, lone bull and buff. The sun has just come out – summer is not over yet.

Lions, more lions and some more lions:
1. Bume - 2 females in the road.
2. 20 Km from Biyamiti - Male, 4 female and 4 cubs just off a kill, came to drink water in a pool next to the road.
3. 2km further - Mating pair in the road.

2006/03/23
• 18k’s
• Tom, Dick and Harry still there.
• Leopard female (same one in my photo) with sub-adult cub 14km from camp. Cub has injured left front foot (not sure what from). Limping slightly, as long as with the female it should be ok and should recover fairly quickly.

Roads:

Biyamiti weir is open again.
S114 south between S25 and H3 is still closed.

Penny wrote:Excellent report Stephen - does this lioness have a den in that immediate vicinity and 2nd question is this the same pride where the lioness had cubs in a den at the bottom of the Hippo Pool road in October last year. Hopefully she will still be around (if the cubs are that small) in 5 days time!!

Still do not know whether we will be able to access the Croc Bridge Gate on Thursday - any news on water levels? If not we will come in to Biyamiti via the hopefully repaired S114 from the Malelane Gate.

Hi Penny The hippo pools pride is a different group - they were seen Monday and Tuesday with their cubs 20km from here towards Croc Bridge.

The Bume pride consists of four females, two males and looks like now 6 cubs. This is the first time that I know of the cubs been seen.

Croc Bridge is still flooded out. The S114 has been temporarily repaired, but we might start putting in the cement slab on that side next week. I am not sure yet

“Lion prides with a rich, reliable food supply can afford to be territorial. Where their prey is migratory, lions tend to follow the herds, and where the food supply is sparse and unpredictable the prides have huge home ranges that are too large to defend. In all these cases encounters between lions from different prides are hostile, but actual fighting is rare, one party leaving the scene under the watchful eye of the other.” Wild Ways by Peter Apps (1992). Southern Book Publishers, Halfway House.

Looking at the areas where Wildebeest and Zebra occur – East on the basalt plains from Crocodile Bridge up to north of Satara – the lion prides tend to be bigger in numbers of individuals and prides per area. West from the S114 to Afsaal the same tendency occurs, but to a lesser extend than on the eastern side. The centre section around Biyamiti and Lukimbi Safari Lodge are predominantly Buffalo area and the prides tend to move around a lot with bigger territories or home ranges. Because of the “smaller” lion population and probably more nomadic behavior of the lions around the Biyamiti area, together with the generally dense vegetation it is prime leopard territory and we have a fairly dense leopard population on the S139. (22km with possibly 12+ leopards).

Yesterday afternoon was quite interesting, to say the least, in terms of traffic jams and hold-ups at Biyamiti .

About half the camp guests sat about 2km from Biyamiti on the 4km side watching the slow and patient elephant herd clock turning for nearly 2½ hours. It was a group of probably 70+ animals spread out over a 2km stretch of road. They were generally relaxed, but no one wanted to risk driving into the herd and getting trouble once inside. The group consisted of babies of a couple of months old up to a huge bull (tusks of over about 1.3 meters long) standing nearly a meter higher than any other ellie in the herd. They were enjoying themselves in the mud pools next to the road and eating the marula trees pushed over nearly onto the road. They eventually made their way down into the Biyamiti River with a bit of encouragement and the guest could again make use of the road.

A lot of the men in the vehicles got quite an earful from the ladies (wives) and at least one pair of eyes was blinking with tears when I got the group of cars through. But again – what a magnificent experience in the bush.

Just to report back...
I am sure the other 3 angels will do the same..
I would have no hesitation in recommending the camp. Highly The sightings will change, the quality of service, not.
Thank you, Stephen, for a very special stay.

The bird doesn't sing because it has answers, it sings because it has a song.

pictureman wrote::) Thanks for the comments stephen much appreciated....And the reports on sightings are just great! please keep them coming, its another way of keeping up with events at the best camp in Kruger.

cannot say it often enough..from Stephen to the cleaner..the camp is a credit to all the staff.. cannot speak highly enough of the camp or staff helpfulness. a real credit to KNP.

WE have the ability to control nature....and destroy it quicker than ever before.

Thank you very much for the kind words and compliments. It is much appreciated.
The Four Angels of Bananarama are welcome at Biyamiti – anytime! (You as well Pictureman)

Sightings:
2006/03/26
• 4km T-junction – two leopards – very relaxed in the bush about 8 meters off the road. Unfortunately could not see male or female – bush a bit dense.
• 18km – Elephant spread out over the whole area – but quite calm.

Although my parents are seething as they did part of the Bume road (from mpondo down towards croc bridge side) on the same morning that the lionesses and cubs were spotted. Anyhow that’s the way it goes which is what keeps us all coming back, if it were a zoo we would all loose interest.

My folks are back from there weekend away, at Biyamiti and as usual had a wonderful time and were very complementary of all the staff and facilities. They didn't have there greatest trip as far as big cat sightings go but never the less always enjoy just being there.

They tell me there must have been some sort of kill in the river bed not to far from the camp as they spotted a mass of vulture’s descending into the river bed. However whatever it was, was just out of view. They heard the hyenas that night and saw the morning vehicle parked not to far from the spot the next morning. I gather this is where you saw the hyenas on your morning walk? Do you have any other information as to what happened there?

Keep the updates going Steven, I’ll be there in 4 weeks with a whole bunch of first timers with big expectations (oh boy the pressure!!!) so will be monitoring your updates for the local so called hot spots.